Will Soon Install Linux on Old Win Machine

I recently bought a surplus computer from my work: Gateway 600MHz
Pentium III with a 20 GB hard drive, and 258 MB RAM. By all accounts,
this should be fine for a Linux box, yes?

I have done some research, and will likely install Ubuntu Linux (when
my discs arrive in the mail), and in the meantime, I have downloaded a
version of Feather Linux and Damn Small Linux (on a dialup! Yikes!) to
play around with.

I want to convert the "new to me" Gateway box into a strictly Linux
box, so I want to completely get rid of the Windows that currently
resides on (infests? ;) ) its hard drive. Do I simply do a "format c:\"
DOS command to erase the hard drive, or is there some better way to
make sure it goes away completely. (I just ran across the term
"zerofill utility" today, and if anyone could clarify this, that'd be
great!)

Then, when it comes time to install Linux, do I just pop a CD in, and
it automagically installs using the BIOS or any remnants of DOS that
might remain?

I'm fairly good with computers, but this is my first foray into the
Linux world. I'm anxious to learn, which is why I'm doing it in the
first place. So any pointers the experts out there can give me would be
much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Dano

.

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